ANGT Coin preview: New qualifying event starts this week

The EUROLEAGUE BASKETBALL ADIDAS NEXT GENERATION TOURNAMENT will unveil a new qualifying event this weekend with the introduction of the ANGT Coin hosted by U18 Unicaja Malaga from February 10-12. Coin, located in the Province of Malaga, will host the third leg of the journey to the ANGT Finals at the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four in Istanbul. The event features one former continental champion, U18 Real Madrid, and one ANGT debutant, U18 Darussafaka Dogus Istanbul. The eight teams will play round-robin games in two groups of four with the winners playing in the final and the champion booking its place in the ANGT Finals. U18 FC Barcelona Lassa and U18 Zalgiris Kaunas have already secured tickets to Istanbul by winning the ANGT Torneig de Bàsquet Junior Ciutat de L'Hospitalet and ANGT Kaunas, respectively.

Group A is made up of Darussafaka Dogus Istanbul, U18 Movistar Estudiantes Madrid, U18 Unicaja Malaga and U18 USK Future Stars Prague. Darussafaka is making its debut in the tournament. Estudiantes has played twice in the competition, and will be competing for the first time since 2009-10 when it played in L’Hospitalet. Unicaja finished fifth in Rome in 2015-16 after having lost in the Rome final in 2014-15 and L’Hospitalet final in 2013-14. USK Future Stars Prague lost all of its games at ANGT Kaunas the last two seasons.

Group B is headlined by 2015 continental champion, U18 Real Madrid, and also includes U18 Cibona Zagreb, U18 FC Bayern Munich and U18 Real Betis Energia Plus Seville. Madrid moves to the Coin tournament after winning the qualifying competition in L’Hospitalet the last two seasons. Bayern took sixth place at ANGT Belgrade last season after going 1-2 at ANGT Kaunas in 2014-15 and taking fourth at ANGT Rome a season earlier. Cibona is back for the third time in the last four seasons after taking third at ANGT Kaunas in 2015-16 and fifth at ANGT Rome in 2013-14. Real Betis Energia Plus Seville took seventh place at the ANGT L’Hospitalet last season after reaching the L’Hospitalet semifinals in 2014-15 and winning the ANGT Rome qualifier in 2013-14.